NAMM 2014: Duesenberg introduces the Johnny Depp Artist Series Guitar

Hand signed, limited to 52 guitars worldwide

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NAMM 2014: Of course you know Johnny Depp from his astonishingly successful acting career. Over the years, he's portrayed everybody from Captain Jack Sparrow to Willy Wonka to Ed Wood (director of the ultra-low-budget sci-fi film Plan 9 From Outer Space and hailed as "the world director of all time").

But Depp is also a hardcore guitar enthusiast, who has been quoted as saying, "Music has always been my first love." Either on stage or on record, he's played with the likes of Aerosmith, the Black Keys, Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Alice Cooper, Oasis and Ryan Adams. His guitar collection is, as you might expect, drool-worthy, and he counts himself as a particular admirer of Duesenberg Guitars. Today, it was announced that Depp and Duesenberg will introduce the actor and musician's very own signature guitar.

From a Duesenberg press release:

At this January's NAMM, Duesenberg will release the limited Johnny Depp signature guitar, with only 52 of the hand signed guitars available worldwide. This unique guitar will display the details, workmanship and sound for which Duesenberg is famous, as well as a number of features which are new to the Duesenberg tradition. A production version will be released later, with a portion of the proceeds going to Johnny's charities.

Nathan Fawley of Duesenberg USA says: "In working with Johnny on this project, which took over one full year, we wanted to do something that was about Johnny on a personal level, and if there's anything that tells Johnny's life story, it's his tattoos. Each one symbolizes a significant event in his life.

"Our goal by incorporating Johnny's tattoos onto the guitars was truly to make this not only a piece of art, but a great guitar in the Duesenberg tradition. Ingo Renner and Dieter Gölsdorf (co-owners Duesenberg Hanover Germany), had the task of building and designing an iconic guitar for one of the most recognizable people in the world – with the key being to build a guitar we all would want to play - and we feel that we have done just that."

Duesenberg Guitars, from Hannover Germany, has made some of the most acclaimed guitars in the last 20 years. The Duesenberg Artist Series guitars have included custom designs for Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 30th Anniversary), Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, and of course the 40th Anniversary Eagles Signature Guitar.